Disclaimer: Trigun is sadly enough not mine, or there would have been way more episodes!

Chapter22: Meryl's POV
The idea of agreeing with Knives about something almost frustrates her as much as his callous reference to something that apparently still bothers Vash in some way, however apparently the fact that they do not want to agree amuses Vash who is now the one with the look on his face.

Meryl narrows her eyes at Knives, he's a telepath. She thinks to herself. That means he can send and receive messages using his mind. Does that also mean he can hear thoughts? Hey you, she directs her mind to say, curious to see if he responds. When nothing happens the first time she tilts her head sideways, still considering it. Hmmmm. That humming I hear now is quiet if I am ignoring it, loud when it wants me to focus, and loud when I am focusing on it. That stands to reason that the same can be said for mind-speech.

Hey you, she just about mentally yells, focusing her attention and anger on Knives. It's almost gratifying when he jumps. "Well that answers that question," she mutters out loud after he starts to scowl at her.

Vash glances between them, "Answers what question?" he inquires as he just about swallows a donut whole.

"How do you not choke?" she asks giving him a funny look.

Before she can answer Knives replies, "She mentally yelled at me, not proper telepathy. But it got the point across."

Resting her elbow on the table and her hand under her chin she queries, "So do you often listen in on thoughts or do you generally keep your head to yourself?"

Vash nearly chokes on the donut he was eating, and then he looks in the bag and starts pouting, "Out of donuts," he mutters.

Without ever taking her eyes off of Knives, she sighs, "Has he always been a donut fiend?"

Knives smirks and shakes his head, "Nope, to both your questions. Why would I bother to read people's minds all the time when most spiders are complete and utter wastes of time? Past that, most the time if I am needing information, I can just take it from their mind without bothering to be nice about it," shrugging, he pauses, "being polite is new. Of course, I will admit to occasionally listen in if I am trying to figure out expression, but again that's new"

"Hmmmmm," comes her soft reply as she thinks about it. "I am going to guess that you have been listening in occasionally around here then?"

He shrugs, "He had a nightmare a couple of days ago I listen to, blue-eyes got flustered about something, I don't think I have anything on you."

"Blue-eyes?" she repeats, then giving a shake of her head chuckles, "well better than spider. Was the flustering about the future I am guessing?"

His eyes narrow as he stares at her, "Yes," his response is harsh, an edge of violence to it.

She nods once, thinking about it a moment before getting, and collecting some dishes. Her hands are busy setting up for dinner while her mind circles all the possibilities for that tone of voice. "Then I can assume as a smart creature, you understand where this is about to go." She turns back towards him as her voice softens, the barely controlled anger she had felt towards him very evident in her voice.

Vash is staring between the two of them, trying to figure out what he missed.

Knives stands, his temper flaring up. According to the look in his eyes he knows exactly what she is implying.

Meryl steps directly in front of him, her lavender eyes flashing. "Then understand this, something happens to her or her little one, and you are in any way, shape, or form at fault for it. I don't care how much more power than me you got, I'll kick your ass to the next planet over." She pauses for a moment, softening her voice, "You're attempting to change, I see that, I also know that old habits are hard to break and you've had some rather nasty habits over the years."

The two of them stand there, almost a contest of wills between them. She knows that she has offended him in the worse possible way. However with his history of massacring human settlements she is not taking any chances on her best friend's life. The plants, his sisters, said he could never do it again but she does not know them well enough to have complete faith in that. Particularly when their method of making sure was telepathy and that was one of his strongest gifts.

His voice is soft as he replies, "You realize I could kill you."

She shrugs, "You do so, he kills you, he feels guilty, the girls take over his mind. Or you do so, and the girls burn your mind. Either way, Milly is protected."

Apparently he had not expected that answer because it startles a bark of harsh laughter out of him. "She's in no danger from me. Particularly since my punishment is to protect the child."

She nods, turning and going back to working on dinner without saying anything else. She knows that she has just shocked both brothers but it was something she felt that she needed to deal with. If he was going to be staying, then she needed to know that he was going to help Milly. It had never been a question with Vash, he loved kids, he liked Milly, it was simple to understand the mix. Knives on the other hand, well he was a completely different type of person. His ideas of right and wrong did not always match with hers, and if it was between Vash or Milly, the chances are it would be Vash he would help first.

Listen Temper, I swear on my brother's life that no harm will come to Milly or her child. You saw enough about me to know I always keep my word. She is not really surprised when she hears Knives angry voice in her mind. She nods, even as she keeps working on dinner.

"Short girl, why are you cooking so early?" Vash inquires, breaking the tension left behind in the room.

Smiling, she turns to face him, "Well I have to work tonight, Milly is not big on cooking, and he eats like you do which means extra food, so it's best to get started early before I actually have to. Past that, we were late getting up, dinner is in an hour or so from now." A small smirk curves her lips with that last pronunciation.

He nods blushing, then glances between her and his brother. Shrugging, Knives returns to his seat and to his writing.

It's just a short while later when Milly gets home, if she notices the tension she says nothing as we all eat dinner.